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Tuesday, November 6, 2012

Indie bands are their own worst enemies. How do you tell a Django from a Maccabee? Why are the Mystery Jets shrouded in... er, mystery? Which one is Noah and which one is the whale? Neither of them. What?!

Let's face it, if you want people to know who you are, you have to have a "thing". Mick Jagger has stupid lips. John Lydon a grisly snarl. The Arcade Fire look like a crack den Addams Family. It all helps.

I know what the indie mafia will say. "We're not trying to be Lady Gaga," and "we just want the music to speak for itself, dudes". Well, bollocks to that. I want a band to have a consistent visual identity, and I don't want that identity to be "here are some skinny jeans and a t-shirt I found in a cupboard".

Case in point: The Foals. That's them standing in some dustbins at the top of the page. Over the years they've made some excellent music (Miami, Cassius) but I couldn't pick them out of a line-up, even if the line-up comprised of the band and four actual foals.

As part of their continuing quest for anonymity, the band barely feature in their latest video - Inhaler. Instead, they have brought in some street dancers (the video director's cliche of choice in 2012) and some gratuitous nudity.

The song, however, is magnificent. Tight, rhythmical and funky, it suddenly rips into an ALMIGHTY RIFF after the first chorus.